by Jennie Marts
“Yeah, you’re right. And it does have this one flower thing that’s coming off. I was just trying to help you out because I felt bad, and I thought my friend would like it. But let’s just forget it.” He turned to walk away.
“No, wait.” She grabbed his arm. “You’re right. I’ll take the hundred.”
“I don’t want to start trouble. Seeing as how your boyfriend gave it to you and all.”
Her mouth pulled into a tight line. “I’m gonna give him something…”
Mason didn’t even feel bad for the guy. Served him right for swindling Tess out of her bag. He was sure she’d traded it for Dewey. And he didn’t give a crap what kind of trouble the Harris kid got into with his girlfriend.
He pulled two fifties from his wallet and held them out to her.
She grabbed the bills and stuffed them in her pocket. “Let me just empty my stuff out.”
“Sure.” He followed her to her car and waited while she dumped the meager contents into the front seat, then shoved the bag into his hands as if it offended her.
He needed to make a quick exit before she changed her mind. “You take care now, Angie. It was good to see you.”
“You too.” Her expression turned flirty as her gaze traveled over him.
Uh-oh.
“Hope you get your money back from your boyfriend. I’d sure give him the business if I were you.” He took a few steps back.
The pissed-off look returned. Thank goodness.
“See you around.” He made a quick exit, detouring around the cars in the parking lot to his truck. He tossed the bag into the cab, then headed back into the reception hall.
He didn’t know what to think now. He was still angry—and hurt—from Tess lying to him.
But how could he stay mad at a woman who traded her most valuable possession for an ugly, scruffy dog?
* * *
The reception was still in full swing as Mason stepped back into the room. It had been warm outside, and he grabbed a bottle of water from the buffet table. He took a long swig, then dropped into the empty chair next to his aunt. “How’s it going, Sassy?”
“It’s going. My bunion is killing me, my arthritis is acting up, and my bra strap is too tight. But other than a few aches and pains, I’m thankful I woke up and could get out of bed this morning.” She studied his face. “How are you doing?”
“Other than the whole arthritis and bra-strap thing, about the same as you.” His hands might not hurt, but his heart sure did. He offered her a wry smile.
“I’m guessing there’s trouble in paradise.”
“Yeah? What makes you say that?”
“Besides the rumors flying around about you and Tess, you’ve been moping around here all day, and now you’re back at the singles table with me.”
“You can’t believe everything you hear. And maybe I just like sitting here with you.”
“Uh-huh.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Plus, your mom told me all about it.”
“Of course she did.” He took another drink of water. “It doesn’t matter. You’re my best gal anyway.”
She chuckled. “Don’t let Vivi hear you say that.”
“Why? I say it to her all the time.”
“You always were a fresh talker.”
“So I’ve been told.”
She took a sip of coffee, then squinted at him over her cup. “So, how are you doing, really?”
“I’m fine.”
“This is me you’re talking to.”
He shrugged. “I am fine. Except that I feel like hell, like I’ve just been hit by a truck. Then the truck reversed and ran over me, then dragged me along behind it for a mile or two. Other than that, I’m doing pretty well.”
“Sounds about right.”
He stared at her. “About right for what?”
“For what a broken heart feels like.”
“Well, if you knew that, I wish you would have warned me, and I would have tried to avoid getting one.”
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
He sighed. “No, I wouldn’t have.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“You mean, besides wallow in self-pity and drown my sorrows in this bottle of water?” Now he’d wished he’d grabbed a beer instead.
“Yes, besides that.”
“What do you mean? What am I supposed to do about it?”
“How are you going to get her back?”
His eyes widened. “What are you talking about? Why would I want her back? She lied to me. And used me.”
“And?”
“And I hate being lied to and used.”
“Well, I hate prune juice, but I drink it anyway because I know it’s good for me. And I know that little gal was good for you. I’ve never seen you as happy as you’ve been the last few days, and your mom agrees. She told me this girl was something special, and the two of you seemed to really care about each other.”
“We did. Or at least I did. I’m not sure what she was feeling.” Although he was sure. He knew all the things he and Tess had shared hadn’t been fake. He knew she had to care for him, at least a little.
“So? Have you called her?”
“No.”
“Have you talked to her at all?”
“No.”
“Well, hell’s bells, boy, how do you expect to work anything out if you don’t even talk to each other?”
He’d wanted to call Tess, to talk to her. He’d even picked up his phone several times, then stopped himself. It was no use. How could he ever trust her? How could he ever know if she was telling him the truth? How could he forgive her for using him and trashing his brother?
Except that she hadn’t trashed Rock. He’d said her article was flattering and shed him in a good light. And then there was the whole thing with Dewey and her bag.
He didn’t know what to do. His head hurt almost as much as his heart. “You make a very good argument. But I think it’s too late for talking.”
“It’s never too late for talking.”
Was it too late?
Could he and Tess have a chance at working things out? Did he want to try?
“It seems like there was something special about this one.”
“There was. There is. Tessa was different. She was great. We had a lot of fun together, and she just seemed to get me. We talked about everything, and I always felt good when I was around her. Like I was a better person, a better man. And when I wasn’t with her, I couldn’t wait to get back to her.”
“Sounds to me like you’re in love.”
“Can you fall in love with someone in four days?”
She shrugged. “I once fell in love within fifteen minutes of meeting a man.”
“You did? What did you do?”
“I married him, of course. He was your uncle.”
“How did you know that you were in love so quickly?”
“You just do. Everything in the world seems different. Everything in your body goes on alert when you are around them. Your hands sweat and your skin heats, and you feel like you’re either going to throw up or spin out of control.”
Yeah, that about summed up how he felt about Tess.
She nudged his arm. “From the look on your face, it would appear that you recognize the feeling. So, I’ll ask you again. What are you going to do about it?”
What was he going to do about it?
Not sit around here and mope anymore. That wasn’t getting him anywhere. And it wasn’t getting him any closer to working things out with Tess.
“Thank you, Aunt Sassy.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek, then pushed back his chair. “I gotta go. Apparently, I’ve got to find the girl I love and try to win her back.”
Before he could stand, the squeal of the micro
phone rang out in the reception hall. The mic was up front, on a little stage they’d set up for the DJ stand, and the crowd quieted as they looked toward the platform.
What was happening now? They’d already done the toasts and tossed the bouquet and the garter.
Great, he finally makes the decision that he’s going to go after Tess, and now he was going to get stuck here for more wedding games.
“Is this on? Can you hear me?” A voice spoke into the mic. A voice that Mason recognized.
What the hell?
He whipped his head around and blinked. He couldn’t believe it.
Tess was standing at the microphone, her hands clutching the stand in a white-knuckled grip. Her eyes were big and round and had that deer-in-the-headlights glazed look of pure terror.
She had on a teal-blue dress that hugged her curves, and her hair was curled and hung loose around her shoulders, shiny in the bright lights.
His heart leapt to his throat, and his mouth went dry at seeing her again.
She looked gorgeous. Amazing. Except for that whole terrified, wish-she-could-melt-into-the-floor state of panic she had going on.
Chapter 23
Tess took a deep breath.
What am I doing here? This was the dumbest idea she’d ever had.
She should forget it. She hadn’t said anything—hadn’t made a fool of herself yet. It wasn’t too late to run.
But her legs wouldn’t move. In fact, her whole body seemed to be frozen in place.
Everyone in the room was looking at her, staring at her with expectation, and she suddenly forgot everything she’d spent the last hour in the car preparing to say.
Oh heck. Who cared if she made a fool of herself? She’d come here to talk to Mason. To try to win him back. To show him she’d do anything to get him to talk to her, to give her another chance, even the thing she hated the most. The thing that terrified her to her very toes.
But there was one thing that terrified her even worse. And that was not taking the chance, not even trying, and losing him forever.
She’d come here to speak, so it was now or never.
Open your mouth, she silently commanded herself.
Just say something.
Anything.
“Hi. I’m…uh…Tessa Kane. Tess. If you don’t know me. I’m a f-f-friend of the best man. Of Mason’s. Well, I was a friend of his. More than a friend, really. Until I s-s-screwed everything up.” The mic squealed again, and another drop of sweat rolled down her back.
She took a deep breath and tried not to look out at the sea of faces staring at her. At the huge room full of people who were most likely thinking about what a supreme idiot she was. Because that didn’t matter. What mattered was Mason. And telling him the truth.
“Because, you see, that’s what I do with my life. I screw things up. I’ve been doing it for years. Good things have come my way, or chances at good things, and I blow them. Usually because I don’t think I d-d-deserve them or I’m too afraid to go after what I really want. So I don’t really try, or I give up too easily. But here’s the thing… Mason James is the best thing that’s happened to me in a l-l-long time. And I blew it with him. Big-time. Like colossally big.”
She could hear the tremor in her voice, the occasional stutter of her words, but it was too late to stop now. She was on a roll. And she didn’t care if she stuttered—didn’t care if the whole room heard her and mocked her for it—as long as he heard what she had to say.
“Mason is a good man, and we had a really great thing going. We got along well, we could talk about anything, he made me laugh, and he even thought I was funny. Yeah, we laughed a lot. But more than that, he f-f-filled something in me, something that had been missing. You know that feeling you get when you go home after a long day and you change into your pajamas and wrap yourself in a blanket and sink into your favorite spot on the sofa? Like you’re finally home and can relax and be yourself? That’s how it felt to be with Mason. Like I was finally home.
“Which sounds great, r-r-right? I mean, I’m with this man who makes everything in my world seem better. And let’s face it, he’s crazy hot too. Have you seen this guy? All dark hair and brooding eyes, and those muscles.” She bit into her bottom lip and let out a little sigh.
“I should have grabbed on to this man and never let him go. But that’s not what I did. I didn’t exactly let him go, but I sabotaged any chance we had at the real thing. And not just a tiny sabotage, but a full-on explosion with burn-the-house-down kind of damage. And I did it to myself. I lit the match and torched our relationship. Because I lied to him.
“I actually lied to all of you. Well, not all of you. Some of you I’ve never met.
“The truth is, we all lie. We exaggerate and mislead. We delude, and fabricate, and prevaricate. But it all comes down to the fact that we lie…about big things and insignificant things. I totally lie about my appearance. I don’t have twenty-twenty vision. I’m wearing contacts. And I’m not the weight my driver’s license says I am. Not even close. I haven’t been for years.” She touched her hand to her head. “And this isn’t even my natural hair color.
“I’ve lied about a lot of things this week. I lied to a guy I really care about and a family that has come to mean a great deal to me. I told myself that I had a good reason, and I did. But in the end, it doesn’t matter. Because it was too late. I’d already inflicted the damage and lost the one guy who could have changed everything.
“Because the b-b-biggest lie that I told this week was to myself, when I thought that I could walk away.”
She put her hand above her eyes, shielding them from the glare of the lights of the DJ stand. Searching the crowd, her heart raced as she scoured the faces, looking for the only one that she cared about. The only one that mattered.
There. In the corner, sitting next to Aunt Sassy.
Her heart broke at the sight of him. He was so damn handsome in his tuxedo.
She couldn’t read his expression, but he didn’t budge, didn’t get up or move toward her. He just sat there.
Her body told her to run, that this whole idea was backfiring. But she’d come here to try, to salvage the destruction that she’d created.
She dropped her hand and tried to block out everyone else in the room. There was only one person who she really cared about anyway. Only one person who needed to hear what she had to say. She focused on his face.
“The biggest lie I told this week, Mason, was when I told myself that I didn’t love you and that it didn’t matter that you d-d-didn’t want to see me anymore. Because it does matter. You matter. You are worth fighting for.
“So this is me, Tessa Kane, panicked and petrified public speaker, doing the thing that I hate, facing my biggest fear, standing up here to tell you that I am in love with you. It doesn’t matter that it happened fast. It only matters that it happened.
“And this whole public-speaking thing—the thing I thought was my greatest fear—isn’t really the thing I’m the most afraid of.
“My biggest fear is losing you.”
* * *
There. She’d said it.
She swallowed, trying to catch her breath. The air rushed in her ears as she waited for Mason to move.
What did she expect him to do? Race to the stage and sweep her into his arms and declare his undying love? Yeah, that would work. Heck, anything would work. Anything but having him just sit there and stare at her. And do nothing.
Nervous titters flitted through the crowd. And her paralysis finally broke. Her legs finally moved and carried her from the stage, through the side door, and down the hall.
Glancing around, she looked for a place to hide, to disappear.
The reception was in the Masonic Lodge, the same venue where the prewedding party had been, and she spied the door to the closet where she’d first met Mason. The closet where this
whole charade had started with a half-baked plan and a too-small shirt.
She ducked into the closet, turned on the light, and sank onto the floor, leaning her back against the wall as she clutched her knees to her chest.
This could work. She could stay in here until the reception was over, and then she could slip out and sneak out of town under the cover of darkness. It was a perfect plan. Okay, maybe not perfect, but it was a plan anyway. And a plan that allowed her to stay hidden and not have to face Mason or anyone in his family or this town again.
She rested her forehead on her knees, taking a deep breath and willing herself not to cry.
* * *
Mason was sure he’d seen Tessa run down this hall. He hadn’t heard the main doors open so she must not have left the building. Peering down the hall, he knew there was only one place that made sense for her to hide. He knocked on the closet door, then pushed it open and looked inside.
Flashes of memories flooded his mind, images of her laughing as she held the edges of her shirt together, the black lace of her bra peeking from between them.
“Tess?”
She was there, huddled on the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees.
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.” Her voice was soft.
He closed the door behind him, then crossed the room and sank to the floor next to her. He stretched his legs out in front of him. “That was some speech. Especially from a—what did you call it?—a panicked and petrified public speaker. That took guts to get up there and admit that you lied… I mean, prevaricated.”
He thought he could tease a smile out of her. She looked so miserable. She was breaking his heart.
“I did it for you,” she whispered.
“I know.” He wanted to touch her, to pull her into his arms. “And I know what it took for you to get up there and do that. It was crazy brave.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was brave, or bold, or just plain stupid. It didn’t work.”
“What do you mean?”
“You didn’t move.”
“That’s because I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that you were standing on the stage. I was in shock.” He leaned against her side. “And I did move. I’m here.”
